


Somethings shifting and I'm lifting

by SkippingCitrus



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-05
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-04-30 03:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5149346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkippingCitrus/pseuds/SkippingCitrus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ford’s transformation into a demon<br/>Written for the One of us AU by poinsixer</p><p>“The marks had come some time later, shining lines in his skin, like long-healed scars. He’d felt them with nervous fingertips, mapped them out in ink in his journal. It looked uncomfortably like his skin had been torn into strips. “</p><p>Warnings for some mild gore and body horror</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He’d been keeping track of all the changes, journal number four was now dedicated to not only cataloging the oddites Bill had brought into the world, but also the strangeness within himself.

He wasn’t sure if it was some kind of residual weirdness he was picking up off the rest of the freaks, or just part of weirdmageddon. (He hadn’t seen anything similar with the few humans left in the town.)

First he’d noticed he didn’t really need anything anymore. Possibly a side effect of time no longer mattering, but he hadn’t needed to eat, sleep, or drink anything for what must be weeks.

Then there was the itching, deep beneath his skin.

-

The marks had come some time later, shining lines in his skin, like long-healed scars. He’d felt them with nervous fingertips, mapped them out in ink in his journal. It looked uncomfortably like his skin was being torn into strips.

It hadn’t taken long for Bill to notice, long fingers tracing over the marks. He didn’t seem to know any more about it than Ford did, but seemed far less concerned, telling him to just relax and see where it took him.

-

The first time his skin split it had HURT. He’d been out taking field notes, sketching a creature that kept screeching and running from him, forcing him to draw it while hiding. He was working on noting its markings when he felt his skin shift unnaturally underneath his sweater.

He’d moved out back into the forest, pausing at a clearing to check his skin. The lines were deeper, a raw angry red that made him begin to panic, running back towards the car, some illogical sense telling him he’d be safer back at the fearamid.

He’d barely touched the metal when the skin began to split, bringing him to his knees as he screamed, flesh tearing apart and the shocking fear that this was it and he was going to die- and then it stopped.

He stayed on the ground for a few moments, panting and shivering before moving a shaking hand to brush over his marks. They were back to looking like fresh scars. It took him a few moments of panicked breathing to notice the strangest part. There wasn’t any blood.


	2. Chapter 2

He looked back to the forest, tempted to go back and try to find the creature again, assuming his screaming hadn’t scared it off. But no, if he died out there-

He took a deep breath, calming himself. For now he would rest. He climbed into the car, relaxing against the leather seat and taking out his journal and a pen.

There wasn’t much he could write, only clinical notes about the marks and the splitting, he couldn’t even begin to describe the pain. He only made it halfway through a sketch of the event before he had to pause. How much of the skin had come off? How thick, what was underneath to stop the blood?

He tapped his pen as he tried to remember. It hadn’t been the first time he’d had this sort of problem, some of the creatures he’d sought before had injured or scared him too much to get decent notes. For the hypnotic creatures living in the lake he’d resorted to recording his interactions with them, unable to remember any time passing while he looked at them.

He paused as the idea hit him, his camera still had to be in the basement, if he could find it he could record any new changes.

He placed the journal on the dashboard, starting the car and speeding off towards the shack. The roads were more dangerous now, various mangled creatures and holes littering the way.

It was nearly night by the time he arrived. The shack was half destroyed, a chunk of the roof missing, and the porch collapsed in front of the door. He felt a twinge of sadness, this place had been his home for many years, but now he had to move on.

There was a faint buzzing in his head as he approached the shack, growing stronger until he reached out a hand, touching thin air but somehow able to feel something there, barely resisting his touch. He kept moving forward, head aching as he pushed through the space. He shook his head to clear it. The barrier he’d set up, why was that affecting him now? Was Bill’s presence that  
obvious within him?

The shack was well barricaded, Ford had to resort to climbing the broken porch and breaking a window. Inside was dark, but still as it had been when he’d left. He walked slowly towards the basement, wary of any sounds or movement.

He’d expected to find Stan here, maybe the kids. Had they made it somewhere safe? Well, Stan had rebuilt the portal after all, perhaps Bill would be merciful.

The elevator was disconcertingly loud, or perhaps the shack was simply too quiet. The basement was empty, the ruins of the portal still stacked against the wall.

He began to rifle through his belongings, he hadn’t seen most of this stuff in years.

“Ford?”

He froze. Footsteps approached him from behind. “Ford, is that you?” He let out a sigh, Stan was safe at least. He turned slowly, observing his brother. Stan looked like shit, clearly hadn’t shaved in a few days, probably hadn’t even changed his clothes.

“Stan, thank god you’re okay, do you know where my video camera is?”  
Stan blinked at him in confusion. “Your what? No. Listen, have you seen the kids? I haven’t been able to find them since any of this happened.”

He stared into Stan’s earnest face. His protectiveness for the kids was going to get him killed one day. “No, Dipper and Mabel ran off into the forest, I haven’t seen them since.” It was technically true. He’d heard Bill had Mabel, but Dipper was nowhere to be found. If he had any sense he’d stay missing.

He went back to searching the cupboards, hearing Stan pace behind him. “Why do you need your camera? To record the end of the world?”  
“I need it for research.”  
Stan paused in his pacing. “Really. End of the world and you’re still working on your stupid nerd journals?”  
“It’s the last research I might be able to get on this dimension, Bill thinks we haven’t got long left before-” Fuck.

Stan grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to turn. "Bill, as in the triangle causing all this?" Ford glanced down at where Stan was gripping his shoulder, fabric twisted in his grip. "Yes. Bill Cipher." 

Stan glared up at him, teeth gritted. "You've been talking to him?" He saw Stans fist clench further. It should hurt. It didn't.  
"It's my fault he got through to this dimention, he offered me a chance to join him and-" Stan shoved him back against the cabinet. "Are you working with him?!" 

Ford looked into his brothers eyes, ready for a violent response. "Yes."

He’d seen his brother disappointed in him before, but the disgust clear on his face actually stung a little. “Get out.”  
“Stan I-” I’m sorry, he didn’t say. He placed a hand on Stan’s arm, ignoring the way his whole frame shook.

“Thirty years I spent working to bring you back, you didn’t care, fine. But after all that you just decide to ruin everything again.” He glared at Ford before continuing, voice raw. I swear to God if either of the kids get hurt I’m rebuilding the portal and throwing you right back in.“

Ford didn’t doubt him. He couldn’t expect Stan to understand what it was, to be chosen to be something more.

"The shack’s safe from Bill for now. The kids, might make their way back here. I can’t promise anything.” He took Stan’s wrists, moving his hands and pushing him away. “Goodbye Stanley.” He got no response. 

Moving back through the barrier it almost felt as if the house was pushing him away. Fine. He didn’t need anything from it anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

He was back in the fearamid within a few hours. He could hear the noise of the party from the main hallway, the yelling of the demonic crew as they got progressively more wasted on time punch. He hadn't tried any yet, wasn't sure if it was remotely safe for human consumption. 

He tried to slip past, sneak around the edge of the hall into one of the smaller rooms at the back. Then he could sit down and figure more of this out. 

He was spotted halfway across the room, Kryptos calling out a greeting that made everyone turn to look at him. He gave a half wave, starting to walk away when Bill flitted over and latched onto him. "Sixter! Had a good time journaling? Come join the party!" 

He tried to ignore the way Bill ruffled his hair like a dog. "Yeah, I saw some fascinating creatures, it's amazing out there right now." How Bill could look so smug with only an eye was beyond him. "But I need to find a video camera or something, record some changes." Bills body shifted colour, showing an image of Ford's face.   
"Why get a camera when you have me?" Ford glanced over at the other demons, who had lost interest and now seemed to be playing jenga with some of the stone humans. 

"Well, you seem busy, and I'm not sure when I'll need it." Bills''body returned to it's standard yellow. "Is this about those weird marks?" 

They ended up in one of back rooms, Ford showing bill the notes on his transformation. "I need to find out what's happening to me, what's causing this. Is it just the general weirdness going on, or something else?" 

"Do you think you could do it on purpose?" Bill asked. Ford shrugged awkwardly.   
"I could try, but I'm not sure I want to, it's not something skin should be doing." Bill shrugged.   
"It healed, anyway I want to see it."   
"It's not a party trick, it was the most painful thing I've ever experienced."   
Bill's eye narrowed. "You know what's the most painful thing I've ever experienced? Being shot in the head by someone I did nothing but help." 

Ford sighed, not ready to get back into the whole betrayal argument.  
"Fine." He stretched his arms out in front of him, staring at the marks. No muscles to flex or bend, how the hell was he meant to do this? He visualised his skin stretching out, tried pushing his aura away from his body. Nothing. 

He thought back to the forest, nothing had caused it, he'd just been focused on the creature he was studying. 

He shifted position, still aware of the weight of Bill's gaze on him and tried to meditate. He'd had plenty of practice in the past, waiting for Bill to enter his mind. He let his body relax, mind clearing. He heard Bill begin to say something when his skin split. 

It still hurt, nerve endings tearing apart as his skin stretched out beyond his body. He could barely hear Bill's excited chatter over his own whimpers of pain. But no screaming, it didn't hurt quite as much this time. Soon enough his skin snapped back into place and he was left on the floor, gasping in pain. 

Bill's hands stroked across his skin, an action that would almost seem soothing if it wasn't for the way his fingers pressed on every mark they could reach, making Ford hiss softly from the pain. "Oh Fordsy, that was beautiful." 

It was a few minutes before Ford recovered enough to speak again. "What was it like?" He watched Bill's form flicker with colour, watched himself meditating as his marks grew redder. Flinched as he saw his skin peel itself off in long strips, leaving behind- well, sure as hell not what he'd expected. 

He pressed a hand against the image of himself, staring at what lay beneath his skin. There was no flesh or bone, simply a black void. 

He had Bill keep the image up, copying it into his journal as Bill tried to flatter him into doing it again. He refused, but agreed to come back with Bill and join the party for a while. 

He always expected more resistance from the demons, that they'd treat him like an outsider, some weird thing Bill had dragged into their group. But as they joined them in the loose circle around the pile of statues nobody seemed that bothered by his presence, didn't mind that he couldn't move the statues himself, getting Bill to move whichever one he chose. 

They were there for a while, playing stupid party games. It was a lot like the films ford had watched as a teenager, except the partygoers in those films had been a lot more horrified when a monster had joined them. 

The time punch was ever constant, but this time when he was offered some he took only a moment to think before accepting it. 

He took the cup, gazing down at it for a moment before taking a drink. What was the worst that could happen, it would ruin the insides he was no longer sure he had?


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, there's the usual body horror/gore stuff in this chapter but also a lot about alcohol and vomit. So like, be warned if you don't wanna read that stuff.

The punch was somehow both like nothing he'd ever tasted before, and strangely reminiscent of pineapple. 

He felt his insides twist as soon as he drank it, shuddering and shaking his head. He tried to drink through it, taking another swig before dropping on all fours and retching. 

The time punch didn't come back up, spreading through his body as he started vomiting. He was just aware enough to notice how abnormally wide his mouth was stretching, how what he'd started throwing up more felt more solid than liquid before hearing what sounded disturbingly like flesh hit the floor. 

After a long stretch of throwing up he leant back, body shaking, to see the pile of what he could only assume were his insides, though he seemed to be living just fine without them. 

He felt someone’s hand on the back of his head while another cup of the stuff was being pushed into his hand. Trembling hands lifted it to his lips and he took another drink.  
After that everything went into one long blur. 

He drank cup after cup of the stuff, eventually he had nothing left to throw up and the punch started tasting no worse than cheap alcohol, flooding his system with warmth. 

Time began to slip away from him, stretching and collapsing in weird ways.  
It took hours to form the syllables for conversations that took no time at all. Seconds to shape the stack of humans into new and interesting forms, while each movement felt like its own eternity.  
He watched Bill blink for what felt like years, the slow beat of his long eyelashes almost audible in the space between breaths. How long he stayed with them, he couldn't tell. A thousand years or five minutes, it was all the same to him.

He made another deal with Bill, grasping his hand tightly and watching the flames spread from his palm over his body. Somewhere in the haze was a sharp spike of fear, that maybe he'd made a mistake, maybe this had been another one of Bill's lies, maybe he'd given up more than he should. 

The feeling passed as he experimented with his new powers. They felt so natural, a sweep of his arm pulling objects into the air, free for him to twist and manipulate as he wished, pulling things apart with nothing more than a thought, seeing inside them, how they worked, what they truly were. 

But it was nothing compared to opening his new pairs of eyes. He was frozen in awe, staring at all the new colours, new shapes, it felt like he was seeing the world for the first time. God, he'd been so blind before. 

He pulled his skin apart so many times it felt like second nature, the void beneath revealed as his skin hung in tatters from something that barely held the shape of his body. It was so bizarre, so unnatural, but somehow felt like the form he was supposed to take all along. He'd always been a freak, why not truly look like one? 

In the end he finally understood. Time and space were nothing to them, they could go so far beyond the borders of this town, the edges of this dimension. Who needed a portal when you had power like this? 

He followed Bill through the end of the world, and didn't look back.


End file.
